Issued in the interest 


O Buyers, Sellers and Users 
x PORTLAND CEMENT by— 


ALPHA PORTLAND CEMENT CO 


ee 11 gen) EASTON , PA. 


roposed Development ‘an Housing Em ployes. o 
LPHA PO ORTLAND CEMENT Co.,at Plant No.5 aes W Viren 


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JoUNDATION 


HILE the great war was confined to the nations of 
Europe, the people of the United States enjoyed 
unparalleled prosperity. 


Today we have the greatest resources of any nation on 
earth. 


Now that American soldiers, American ships, American 
airplanes, and American supplies must decide the issue, it 
is the duty of every citizen to take Liberty Bonds to the 
very limit of his ability. 


Let the call of our Government for more money be an- 
swered promptly, heartily and unmistakably. No one else 
can do your part. Don’t wait. Apply at once for your 
bonds to your Local Committee or to your bank. 


Alpha Portland Cement Company 


General Offices: Easton, Pa. 


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Drawn from a view of Morgan Park, Minn. (near Duluth), a handsome industrial city of concrete homes, pavements and streets, 
built by the Minnesota Steel Co. 


N the great turn-about that the world has had 
since the summer of 1914 a decided change 
has come in building conditions. Certain types 
of building work have slowed up considerably. 
Other classes of work have been rushed. Factory 
additions, to furnish war material and necessary 
goods that formerly came from Europe, have been 
completed at high speed. Military cities, with 
their barracks, hospitals, supply houses, audi- 
toriums, and the like, have sprung up. 


In the flurry that was natural over the entry of 
the United States into the war, it was to be expected 
that in some of the building operations service and 
permanence would be sacrificed for speed. The 
New Republic says in one of its recent issues: 


‘Housing for the workers employed in shipbuild- 
ing is assured under the act appropriating $50,000,- 
ooo for this purpose. But it is not enough to be 
assured that the workers who are to build our ships 
will not altogether lack shelter. What kind of 
houses are to be built, what arrangements are to 
be made for the kind of community life that will 
keep the workers contented, are questions for which 
we still anxiously await an answer. Are our hous- 
ing authorities going to content themselves with 
the erection of flimsy shacks to be pulled down as 
soon as the war is over, or will they build for perma- 
nence, recognizing the fact that the problem of 
housing our workers will remain with us after the 
war, and that any contribution they may have 
made toward its solution will fall to the credit of 
their industrial statesmanship? These are ques- 


tions that presented themselves to the British 
government early in the war. The economy and 
speed of construction of temporary shelters were 
thoroughly considered. But, although the pros- 
pective drain of the war upon British resources 
was incomparably greater than the drain we have 
to face, the British government decided in favor 
of permanence in its housing plans. The argu- 
ment for permanence is even more cogent now, 
when it is coming to be clearly understood that 
the world has entered upon a struggle for sub- 
stantial democracy—democracy that takes eco- 
nomic as well as political conditions into account.” 


Industrial cities have, like the cantonments, 
sprung up at many points throughout the country 
to accommodate either a newly organized force 
of workingmen or an increase to a former force. 
How to provide employees with suitable homes has 
been a live problem with employers for several 
years, and is to-day the most interesting phase of the 
building situation. Some of these industrial cities 
have been built with no apparent idea of perma- 
nence, safety or beauty, and the disastrous fire 
that almost swept the mushroom-built town of 
Hopewell, Va., off the map illustrates what may 
happen. 


It is the purpose of this issue of ALPHA AIDS to 
set forth what may be accomplished at reasonable 
cost and by a variety of building methods in the 
constructing of small concrete houses that are at- 
tractive as well as permanent, safe and comforta- 
ble. 


S 


— 


© WORKING, MENS HOMES 


“ ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS 
| NEWYORK AND PHILADELPHIA 


Industrial Housing Problems 


By LESLIE H. ALLEN, 


T is reported from Bucyrus, Ohio, that one manufac- 
turing concern recently brought 150 employees to the 
city by great effort; after a few days thirty remained, 

the other 120 left, having failed to secure comfortable 
homes. 

In Derby, Conn., one company was compelled to sub-let 
to out-of-town concerns over $800,000 worth of work, which 
could easily have been done in the city if it had been 
possible to bring more mechanics to the city and house 
them. 

Six cement companies, who recently analyzed their 
labor turnover for a period of three years, report an aver- 
age of 103% per annum. A prominent public service 
corporation near Philadelphia confessed recently to a 
labor turnover of r100%, and, although this is excep- 
tional, a turnover per annum of 400% is not uncom- 
mon. 

These cases are typical of widespread conditions. 
During the past two or three years employers of labor 
in all of our big industrial centers have experienced such 
great difficulty in getting and keeping employees that 
much attention has been focused upon the employment 
situation. The results of many investigations have 
shown that one of the prime causes for the shifting 
population and large labor turnover of many industrial 
plants is the utterly inadequate housing accommoda- 
tions available for the industrial worker. 

In years gone by wages were low and the cost of turn- 
over was hardly considered, for there was always a long 
line of new men waiting for a job, and, because of this 
excess of supply of men over demand, a man was not so 
ready to throw up his job and seek another. He would 
put up with poor housing conditions for the sake of 
having any job at all. But in the present labor situa- 
tion, with demand far exceeding the supply, the work- 
man will no longer be content with the disgraceful hous- 
ing conditions he has had to put up with. He rightly 
objects to sleeping six or eight in a room big enough for 
two, turning out of his bed in the morning just in time for 
the night-shift man to take his place; and as fast as manu- 
facturers bid for his services by putting up decent houses 


Aberthaw Construction Co. 


(as many are now doing) he is going to leave the old in- 
sanitary overcrowded centers to go to the new villages 
where he can live decently and comfortably with his 
wife and family. 


The Effect of the Present Crisis.—Very little is being 
done at the present time toremedy this state of affairs, 
owing to the fact that the present abnormal prices of labor 
and building materials have shut off the supply of houses. 
Heretofore the demand for houses has been supplied by 
the speculative builder and the real estate operator. 
But at the present time he can no longer afford to build— 
in many cities he cannot get construction loans, and even 
if he does, he cannot hope to sell in the open market at 
present prices and cannot be sure of any return on his 
money by renting, having in mind a possible trade de- 
pression during the re-construction period which will 
come at the end of the war, so that, while the demand 
for better houses continues, the supply is getting less 
and less. In view of the probability that the labor situa- 
tion will not change for four or five years after the close 
of the war, the manufacturer is faced with the very 
serious problem of how best to compete in the labor 
market for his needs, with the knowledge that housing 
is an important factor in which he will get no help from 
local investors as in former years. 


He has long felt that the housing problem is one to 
which he ought to give serious attention. He has dis- 
liked doing so, and for good reason, but the present 
crisis is forcing upon him the conviction that he has got 
to tackle it, and that in the future he ought to control 
it. 

The Effect of Bad Housing on Industry.—Apart from 
any consideration of this subject from the humanitarian 
or sentimental side, the industrial employer is beginning 
to realize the tremendous importance of these conditions 
in their relation to production. 


He is finding out that men who are housed in unhygienic 
and unsanitary dwellings are not so healthy, not so effi- 
cient, lose more time through sickness, and are more 
stupid and troublesome in the plant. 


Statistics computed in Chicago and 
elsewhere have proved conclusively that 
the areas having maximum density of 
population coincide with those having 
the highest percentage of tuberculosis 
and other contagious diseases, crime and 
social evil. 

The output of a plant is seriously 
affected by the prevalence of sickness 
which is so often caused by the insanitary 
surroundings of the workman’s house 
and the overcrowding inside. With 
open privies or cesspools in the back 
yards, and wells within twenty feet, 
typhoid is an ever imminent danger; 
with overcrowding and lack of opportunity 
for personal cleanliness, tuberculosis 
and other diseases flourish; these reduce 
the regularity of the men’s attendance 
at work and the production of the plant. 

We are at last beginning to realize 
that people who live in pig-sties are 
likely to be and to act like pigs. If we 
want respectable and intelligent men 
and women to work for us in our plants, 
we must see that they have decent, 
healthy and comfortable homes. 

The interest of the employer in the health of the em- 
ployee is being shown in better sanitary accommoda- 
tions in the factory, the provision of drinking-water 
fountains, shower baths, rest rooms and hospitals, and in 
recreation parks and club rooms, athletic associations, 
etc., and in some cases in the sale of wholesome food for 
the workers to eat during their dinner hour. And in 
so doing he has recognized the importance to his plant 
of happy, healthy employees. The provision of decent 
houses for them is but a short step further. 

The human tool is not unlike the machine tool in this 
respect—the better it is housed and cared for the greater 
will be its efficiency and its output. 

And so it is that we find in city after city and in many 
rural communities industrial plants are putting our large 
‘sums of money in building model villages or model homes 
for their working people. It is being recognized that in 
order to secure good workmen and to hold them it is 
necessary not only to provide work for them to do but 


A Group of Attractive Poured Concrete Houses at Newark, Ohio 


3 


Two-Family Concrete House Erected in Salem, Mass., After the Great Fire 


to provide good houses for them to live in. It is no 
longer safe or good policy to leave this matter to chance 
or to the irresponsible real estate speculator. 

In February last the writer was discussing this matter 
with a textile manufacturer who said there might be some 
point in what was said, but he did not feel it was im- 
portant enough in his plant, as the supply of houses 
took care of the demand. In September the writer saw 
him again. Fifteen per cent of his machinery was idle, 
because his help would not stay. He stated that the 
cost of the houses he should have built in the spring 
would all have been returned to him in the profits on the 
output of his idle machinery. 

The Employer’s Responsibility Many experts think 
that it is undesirable for the manufacturing corporation 
itself to own houses and sell or rent them to the worker, 
if this can be properly taken care of by other parties. 
In spite of this, many corporations have been doing 
this successfully and maintaining harmonious relations 
with their work people. At the present 
time, with prices of building work at their 
present level, the employer is being forced 
into this field. No longer can a manufac- 
turer build a large plant and find houses 
springing up all around it without any 
effort of his. The workers are the motive 
power of any factory plant, and the 
employer who builds a new plant to-day 
without building houses near by finds 
himself like a locomotive without fuel. 
Even in large cities, such as Bridgeport, 
Akron, and many others, the manufacturers 
themselves have had to combine to raise 
the necessary capital to take care of and 
remedy the housing situation. 

It must first be recognized that we have 
two classes of workmen to be considered: 
(t) The unskilled workmen, mostly 
foreigners or negroes, uneducated, unused 


to American houses and American standards of living, 
earning a very low wage; and (2) the skilled men, me- 
chanics, machinists, etc., earning a higher wage, mostly 
Americans, living according to American standards, 
demanding more and willing to pay more for the com- 
forts that the foreigner does not consider essential. The 
result of a failure to distinguish these two classes is that 
at the present time nearly all the houses built are Amer- 
ican houses for skilled workmen, and the need for better 
houses for unskilled labor has remained unsatisfied, re- 
sulting in overcrowding getting worse and worse. Here 
and there, as in Philadelphia and Washington, a most 
excellent attempt has been made to solve the problem of 
housing the unskilled, low-paid workman. Such exam- 
ples have not been copied and only serve to show up 
more sharply the mistakes of other cities. 


Housing Essentials.—The essentials of a modern city 
house may be summarized as follows: 


Watertight roof, walls and floors. 

Bedroom for parents. 

Bedroom for male children. 

Bedroom for female children. 

Living-room for cooking, eating and gen- 
eral day use. 

Private toilet-room with sanitary water- 
closet and sewer connection. 

Suitable heating arrangements. 

Running water supply fit for drinking. 

Uninterrupted daylight and ventilation 
through windows in every room. 


Sink in kitchen, with running water and 
waste. 

Further additions required by the 
American family and considered necessary 
by them: 

Cellars. 

Closets. 

Bathtub with running water. 

Window screens. 

Separate parlor. 

Desirable improvements which usually 
are added: 


Porches and piazzas. 

Lavatory bowl. 

Hot water supply to bath and bowl. 

Window shades. 

Window blinds. 

Dining-room separate 
kitchen. 

Electric lighting or 

Wall-paper. 

Laundry tubs. 


from parlor or 


gas piping. 


Need for Economy.—Any attempt such 
as the above to divide essentials from 
luxuries must come in for a good deal of 
criticism, as there is bound to be a 
difference of opinion upon the details of 
such a list. The classifications suggested 
will at least serve to indicate the lines 
upon which the planning of a house should 
be studied in view of the need for strict 
economy in designing and building neces- 
sary to bring buildings down to a cost that 
will be remunerative. 


It is generally agreed by economists that the working 
man cannot afford to pay more than one-quarter of his 
monthly wage in rent. This means that the man earning 
an average of $12.50 a week cannot afford to pay more 
than $150.00 per annum. Assuming that a housing 
operation ought to pay at least 10% gross per annum, 
this gives $1,500.00 for purchase of lot with sewer and 
street improvements and the building of a house. At 
the present time a four-room house of good construc- 
tion cannot be built for this money and it is therefore 
necessary to plan with the very strictest economy. 

Many of the workmen whose homes we wish to build 
have come from countries where four walls and a roof are 
considered a sufficient shelter from the elements to make 
the home. Although we do want to see them housed in a 
better manner than this, yet it is not necessary to give 
them a six-room house, large cellar, furnace heat with 
running water, laundry tubs, lavatory bowls, picture- 
mouldings, and all the other comforts and luxuries that 
are required by higher-paid workmen. We do want to 
house the lowest-paid man in a sanitary and hygienic 
home, but it is not necessary that his home be furnished 

(Continued on page 7) 


The Two Upper Views Show Some of the Gunite Cottages at Cornwells, Pa. 
Lower View Is a Group of Cottages in California, Built of Gunite 


4 


Building 100 Concrete Houses as One Job 


NE of the most interesting concrete 
house operations is the community 
of one hundred dwellings built at 
Donora, Pa., for the American Steel 
and Wire Company by the Aberthaw 
Construction Company of Boston, 
Mass. The following details are taken 
largely from an article published in 
the Engineering News-Record: 

The site of the development is about 40 miles outside 
of Pittsburgh and is located on a steep hill above the 
Monongahela River. The property has been laid out 
into 156 lots, of which too are now being built upon 
and the remainder will follow next year. Grading was 
done and streets laid out by the American Steel and 
Wire Company, concurrently with the house building. 
The plan is to have concrete streets and granolithic side- 
walks. 


The houses were designed by the Lambie Concrete 
House Corporation, of Boston, Mass., and are of eight 
different styles, containing some four, some five, and some 
six rooms, all with a bath and cellar. Of these, a few are 
built in pairs with party walls, and the remainder are all 
detached. The contract prices for a house complete 
range from $2,000 to $3,300, but such costs are based 
on prices of some time ago and can hardly be used for 
present comparison. The costs include gas furnaces 
and cooking ranges, electric lighting and the usual im- 
proved kitchen and bathroom equipment. The average 
floor area is 26 X 26 feet. 


A typical house layout is shown on page 6. The 
houses are all of the box type with 6-in. solid concrete 
walls reinforced vertically on both faces and horizontally 
on the outer face with straight rods, with an intermediate 
partition wall cutting down the floor spans to 12 to 15 ft. 
The floors are of the ribbed reinforced-concrete type, 
with the ribs or beams spanning between the outer and 
interior walls. These ribs are left exposed in the cellar, 
but in the other floors plaster board is nailed to strips 
left in the concrete and a finish plaster coat made. The 


buildings are finished at the top with a reinforced con- 
crete cornice in which a gutter is formed, and on top 
of the concrete ceilings a roof is built up of spruce fram- 
ing covered with asbestos slate, so that the whole of the 
exterior of the building, with the exception of this frame, 
the wooden window and door frames, and wood stairs, is 
fire-resisting. 

The forms used in this undertaking are of the special 
steel channel type patented by the Lambie Concrete 
House Corporation. They consist of 9-in. channels set 
up vertically and connected together with clips and wedges 
passed through slotted holes in the flanges of the channels. 
At the corner of the building a 4 X 4-in. steel angle is 
set up, and the forms are lined up longitudinally by means 
of a steel channel used to form a belt course. This not 
only fastens the forms of the lower floor, but is bolted 
into the floor reinforcement and remains in place for a 
support for the second-story forms and is only stripped 
at the last when all the concrete is poured. The steel wall 
forms also support the floor forms, which are steel domes, 
arrangement being made by which the steel channels 


Casting the First Floor with Lambie Forms 


on which the domes are laid 
are bolted to the inner side of 
the steel wall forms. The 
cornice has to be built inside 
special wood forms supported 
by wooden struts reaching 
down to the belt-course chan- 
nel form. 

The cellars were excavated 
with a steam shovel which 
went down a street, taking 
out a strip the depth of the 
houses. The space between 
the walls of the houses is 
backfilled after the cellar walls 
are placed. The digging was 
in hardpan with some shale, 
but all of it was taken out by 
the steam shovel. 

The construction of the 
houses proper is done in groups, 
to fit the number of sets of 
forms, which are taken down 
as soon as possible and moved 
on to the next group. 

The usual method is to set 
the forms for one story—wall 
and floor together—and then 
to pour the concrete for this 
section all at once. The 
progress of the job is limited 
by the setting of the concrete. 

To form, pour and _ strip, 
each story takes about seven 
days. Working at this rate, 
the house of two floors and 
cellar is completely concreted 
in three weeks, and with the twelve sets of 
forms on the job, twelve houses are concreted in this 
period. After this the plumbing, heating, plastering, 
roofing and finish are done, which take about five weeks 
more. The houses were completed at the rate of twelve 
in the first eight weeks and twelve every three weeks 
thereafter. 


During the first three months of construction the 


for which are shown in Detail 


FAMILY 
LIVING ROOM 


LODGER’'S 
LIVING ROOM 


Part Elevation of House Forms 


at Right 


Some Construction Details of the Donora Houses 


SECOND STORY 


LODGERS 
BED ROOM 


Typical Elevation. 


Typical 
Reinforcement}; 


wannnene al Ge 


Typical F First Floor Plan 


-fB25" 


progress made was as follows: twenty-eight complete 
houses, counting double houses as one, were concreted in 
twelve and half weeks, or at the rate of a house every 
three days. After the job was well under way the work 
proceeded more rapidly. Two houses were completed 
in thirteen calendar days from the erecting of the base- 
ment forms to the concreting of the roof. 


The number of men in a concrete gang varied from 
13 to 15, according to the type 
of house and the amount of con- 
crete to be poured. On a large- 
type six-room house group this 
force has taken approximately 
1!/, days to erect basement walls 
and first-floor forms, including 
all boxes, window frames, flues, 
etc. Concreting basement walls 
takes about 2!/. hours, and 11/2 
hours to pour the floor. Stripping 
and erecting the basement wall 
forms on the first story takes 11/2 
to 2 days. The stripping of the 
first-story walls and_ erecting 
the second-story and putting on 


FAMILY if 
BED ROOM 


FAMILY 
BED ROOM 


FAMILY 
PORCH 


the floor takes about 11/2. days, 
but the putting on of the cornice 
is a slower operation and adds 
from half a day to a day to this. 


A Very Practical Arrangement for a Boarding House 


6 


Concreting the walls takes about 
21/, hours, and the roof about 


fae] 


the same length of time. 

The steel reinforcement varies from 11/, tons in the 
smallest type of single houses to three tons in the largest 
type of double houses. 

The quantities of concrete per house vary from 145 
cu. yds. for the largest double house down to 85 for the 
smaller single houses. This includes all walls and floors, 
footings, pavings, porches and chimneys. 


Industrial Housing Problems 
(Concluded from page 4) 

with all the conveniences and appurtenances that are 
being considered necessary in the American home. We 
should give him a house that will not harbor vermin, 
that will not be damp or unhealthy, a house in which 
every room has a proper amount of light and ventilation 
and direct sunlight, and that has decent privacy in its 
sanitary accommodations and sufficient bedrooms for 
the sexes to sleep apart. 

The various types of dwellings now in use are as fol- 
lows: 

Single houses of five to seven rooms. 

Two-family houses of four to seven rooms. 
Terrace or row houses of four rooms and up. 
Apartment-houses or tenements, two rooms and up. 
Boarding-houses for single men. 

Hotels. 

The single house is the ideal residence for the American 
family, but is beyond the means of the low-paid unskilled 
workman. A single house with five or six rooms with 
3,000 feet of land cannot be built for less than $3,000, 
except in the cheapest kind of frame construction, and 
even at this price it would call for a higher rental than he 
can afford to pay. For higher-paid men in the plant the 
single house is very desirable. 

The two-family house is often built for workers who 
wish to purchase their homes. Though not suitable for 
the unskilled worker, they are quite attractive to higher- 
paid men who like to buy a two-family house so that 


fee 
te 


ALPHA AIOS 


the rental received from one-half of the house will help 
to pay the carrying charges and amortization of the whole 
house. In some cases these are built side by side with a 
party wall and in some cases one tenement is built above 
the other. The first-named is preferable, as there is 
more privacy. 


For Safety and Permanence 


The numerous fires which, according to newspaper 
reports, have occurred in the various cantonments through- 
out the country, have shown conclusively the fallacy 
of the principle of constructing all buildings, especially 
warehouses and hospitals, of wood. This seems to mark 
with special emphasis the folly of erecting the large re- 
ceiving and similar hospitals in any other manner than 
through the medium of a construction that is, if nothing 
else, fire-resisting; especially so, where such hospitals are 
in thickly populated localities, and, therefore, subject to 
the acts of incendiarism that are apparently so prevalent 
throughout the country. 

It has been one of the claims of the officials of the War 
Department that speed was the requisite feature, and 
that speed only could.be obtained by the use of wooden 
construction, and that of the flimsiest and most destructi- 
ble type. Experience has proven that these officials were 
not justified in this claim, by the fact that a great many 
of the cantonments, although it was definitely thought 
they would be completed by September 6th, are still 
in a partially completed state. 

Stucco construction, when built up with high-grade 
cement mortar, has time and again proven its effective- 
ness in the prevention of a spread of fire; offers a possi- 
bility of insulation against cold and heat that cannot be 
obtained through the medium of wooden walls; and 
where buildings, such as the proposed hospital, are pro- 
jected, can introduce an additional type of labor that 
will diversify the operations and will therefore introduce 
a greater speed—From Bulletin of Corn Exchange Bank 
of Philadelphia. 


Bird’s-eye View of Donora Colony, Showing Most of the Houses Practically Completed 
Concrete Pavements and Sidewalks to be Constructed 


7 


{fF ALPHA AlosS 


Inexpensive 


Four-Room 
and 


Six-Room 
Houses 
Built for 
Mine Workers 
at 
Cairnbrook, 
Pennsylvania 


Illustrations 
Furnished 
through 
Courtesy of 
Lambie 


Concrete 
House 
Corporation 


The Most 
Simple 
House Is 
Substantial 
and 
Comfortable 
when Built 
of Concrete 


Sram 28 


* 


av 


6 a be 
va * eee 


HE PRE=CAST. SYSTEM™, 


Permanent Homes Being Erected by 
Alpha Portland Cement Company 


S suggested by the cover page of this issue of ALPHA 
AIDS, the Alpha Portland Cement Company 
practices what it preaches, and is engaged in build- 

ing a number pf permanent homes for its working force 
at the No. 5 plant at Manheim, W. Va. This, however, 
is. not the only point at which the company has built 
or is building concrete dwellings for its employees. The 
houses now being erected are of the ‘‘Simpson-Craft’’ 
type. The system permits the construction of reinforced 
concrete practically without forms, the greater portion 
of the work being pre-cast of minimum sections, made 
with the idea of using common labor in erection. In 
some types of buildings, erected by this system, no plaster 
or stucco is used, though the appearance of the exterior 
can be varied by the use of large plane surfaces stuc- 
coed. For the miscellaneous small houses, outside of 
dwelling houses, no plaster is used for the exterior, but 
for dwellings, it has been found that the continuous air 
Spaces within the outside walls of the building, together 
with the introduction of heavy waterproofed felt, helps 
to make the building dry and warm in winter and cool in 
summer. 

The construction consists of wall and floor slabs, to- 
gether with belt and sill courses, floor beams and roof 
rafters made of standard sections and sizes for individual 
pieces. They may be assembled in’ any combination 
desired, so that while each building is made up of standard 
units, the general design may be varied, making it possi- 
ble to produce a large number of buildings, using the 
standard units, but varying the exterior treatment. 


The pre-cast sections of the buildings are made on 
casting tables or in moulds. This may be done either 
at the building site or in the yard or shop, and shipped to 
the site. If they are shipped, the sections may be packed 
in fine broken stone, sand or gravel, and the latter may 
be used at the site as an aggregate forming the studs, 
which are field-cast and form the binding element for the 
buildings. All of the pre-cast members entering into the 
construction are so designed that the metal with which 
they are reinforced projects beyond the end or edge of 
the pieces. In assembling the pre-cast sections in the 
buildings, they are spaced at intervals on the walls, leav- 
ing a space between the two sides of sections, and are then 
clamped together temporarily by means of channel 


shaped wood or metal forms covering the two open sides 
of the intervening spaces and forming a pocket into which 
reinforced bars are placed. The inside face of these 
pockets has a series of holes spaced about 7” on centers, 
into which are placed large wire hairpins. The pockets 
formed by the forms are filled with concrete, forming 
the studs of the building and binding all parts together. 

The reinforced concrete beams of the floor construc- 
tion, which are pre-cast, rest on the top of the wooden 
forms of the studs, the ends of the concrete beams, with 
their reinforcements, projecting into the pockets. When 
the casting is complete, the end of the beam rests di- 
rectly upon the stud, and is securely anchored. 


Upon the removal of the field forms, heavy waterproof 

building paper is placed aginst the inside face of the studs, 
beginning at the ceiling line and working down toward 
the floor, lapping the paper 4” at each joint, and secur- 
ing the edges to the window and door frames. After this 
paper has been applied, hyrib self-centering or other 
ribbed lath, is placed with the ribs aginst the paper, 
forcing the ends of the hairpin through the opening in 
the lath. Through these openings is then placed a heavy 
wire or tenpenny nail, and the loops of the hairpin twisted 
down onto the wire, thus anchoring the lath permanently 
to the stud. The same method is used in securing the 
lath to the ceilings, though, if desired, the paper may be 
omitted. 
' Grounds for the securing of wooden base, picture 
moulds, etc., are secured to the lath, or “spot’’ grounds 
may be used for this purpose; the walls and ceilings are 
then ready for plastering. Studs for the interior parti- 
tions are all pre-cast. Reinforcement for these studs 
project from the upper ends, the stud being of full height 
between the top of the floor slabs on which it rests and 
the under side of the floor beams. Between the top of 
these studs and the top of the floor beams, a distance of 
twelve inches,is cast a girder or plate, binding the ends 
of the floor beams together and distributing the load over 
the studs. This permits of the variations in spacing of 
the studs for door openings, etc. 

Roofs may be formed in a manner similar to the floors, 
using slabs directly on top of the reinforced concrete 
rafters. Where cement tile is used for roofing, the tile 
may be laid directly upon the reinforced concrete roof 


Dining & 


{ 
it 


Ey VG 0 et 


(Cll XS sds 


tls 27 oe a 


House Being Erected at Alpha Plant 


slabs. For other types of roof covering, dovetailed lath 
are built into the top surface of the roofing slabs, forming 
nail spaces for the roofing material. 

The finished floors of the building may be of any ma- 
terial, such as wood laid on sleepers in the standard way, 
plastic surface such as Asbestolith, Taylorite, etc., or by 
the standard method of using a wood base with the sani- 
tary cove, forming a carpet strip and filling in the space 
between the cove and the floors with Portland cement 
finish, the method used in many first-class hotels at the 
present time. This makes a particularly high-grade 
sanitary floor, and one that is economical to construct. 
By using care to secure a hard finish a concrete floor 
can be obtained that will be absolutely dustproof. 

Treads and risers forming stairs for this type of house 
are pre-cast in one piece, also sections of the chimneys, 
mantels, and other parts of the building; they are set 
and built into place as the buildings progress. 

The foundation walls may be either a solid 8” concrete 
wall on top of a concrete footing, or formed in the same 
manner as the walls in the building above grade. In 
the latter case, however, the slabs forming the walls 
would be 2” thick instead of 11/2”, which is the standard 
thickness of the wall slabs. 

Many designs of surfaces for outside walls may be ob- 
tained by the use of selected aggregate. The standard 
method is to finish the slabs under wood float, touching 


ALPHA AIDS 


up the edges of the studs after they have been cast in 
the field. 

Dry joints are used in assembling all the parts, though 
in casting the studs, all parts of the building are thor- 
oughly grouted. forming a construction analogous to the 
placing of panels in the doors. 

As the building is constructed entirely of fireproof ma- 
terials, the spaces between the beams and ceilings, also 
the spaces between the studs and all partitions, may be 
readily used for heat and ventilating flues. In some of 
the smaller types of houses, the entire building may be 
heated and ventilated from the top of the cooking stove 
by a special device, thus making it necessary to have 


Perspective Views of Simpson-Craft Houses at Alpha Plant, 
Manheim, W. Va. 


only one fire in these small buildings, and at the same 
time, not only heat but ventilate the rooms. 

With a degree of skill on the part of the workman, in 
sections where sand and gravel or fine crushed stone from 
stone crushers are available, buildings constructed on 
this type will cost only a little more than first-class frame 
construction. 


fee Oot > 370002. 2 LAN 


House Being Erected at Alpha Plant 


The types of houses adopted by the Alpha Cement 
Company for their employees vary from five-room semi- 
bungalow type to the cottage type of six rooms and bath. 

The construction here described, known as the Simp- 
son-Craft method, is the invention of John T. Simpson, 
of Newark, New Jersey, for many years President and 
Designing Engineer of the American Concrete Steel 
Company of that city. 

The illustrated headpiece at the top of page 9 is drawn 
from a view of houses of the type here described erected 
at Lansford, Pa., for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation 
Company. A sheet giving some detail drawings of the 
pre-cast system of house construction will be sent free 
on request by the Alpha Cement Service Department, 
Easton, Pa. 


A Rat Census 


Says the Scientific American: ‘‘Some interesting figures 
about the rat population of Kansas have been compiled 
for the Federal food administrator of that state. Work- 
ing with figures of European rat surveys made just before 
the war, it is estimated that the rat population of a city 
like Wichita is probably equal to the human population, 
while in the country districts there are at least 10 rats for 
every person. A fair estimate would give 3,000,000 rats 
for Kansas, each requiring $2 worth of fooda year, a 
$6,000,000 loss.”’ 

The cure for the rat evil is concrete. 


Service Sheets on Concrete Houses 


The Alpha Portland Cement Company will be glad to 
send manufacturers and responsible property-owners, 
engineers, architects and contractors, Service Sheets 
giving additional helpful details on good types of (1) 
poured concrete houses, (2) pre-cast concrete houses, and 
(3) stucco houses. Address ALPHA Service Depart- 
ment, Easton, Pa. 


Alpha Cement—How to Use It, 96 Pages, Illustrated 


About one per cent. of the space in Alpha literature is used in 
telling how we make cement as good as it can be made. ‘The other 
ninety-nine per cent. is used in practical directions about concrete 
construction—form-building, calculating of quantities, waterproof- 
ing, fireproofing, and building ideas covering scores of different types. 
of small structures. If you haven’t a copy of this Handbook, it 
will be a valuable addition to your collection of practical books. 


Pre-cast Beams and Slabs aptly called ‘‘Concrete Lumber”’ 


es 


Industrial Houses Constructed with 
Expanded Metal Lath and Metal Lumber 


Light, strong 


me lh: 
ee Ga 


Din-ROom 


12-Ox 11-0 


Liv-Room 


12-6x19-6" 


Illustrations 


Manufacturing 
Canton, Ohio. 


4 
i 


KITCHEN 


1-6x10-9" 


CHAMBER 
13-2 10-q° 


Linen fT 
Closer 
; [ at | 


CHAMBER. 
12-6x 1-5 


CHAMBER. 
8-8 x)|-3" 


joists of pressed steel take 
the place of wood in floors, 
roofs, partitions and walls. 


All metal lumber comes to 
the job cut to size. 


through courtesy of Berger 


studs and 


Channel Track--@ 


and data 


Epagck Plaster 


Company, 


mito 
Metal Lath § Plaster 


Pressed Steel 


232. 


CROSS: OECTION 
SHOWING _ 


FLOOR: CONSTRUCTION _ 


SECTION*SHOWING:EXTERIOR. 


Tip.sT-[LOOR— 


OECOND TLOOR= 


12 


WALL: $-WEIGHT-BOX: 
CONSTRUCTION _ 


Metal Lath Plaster 


He Pressed Stee! Stud 


\. ¢e Back Plaster 


Suspended Ceiling—}- 


Building with 


Metal Lumber 


By A, H. BROMLEY, Jr., Canton, Ohio 


ETAL. lumber is found forging to 
the front among the systems of con- 
struction available to meet the ‘‘need 
of the hour,” namely, fire-resisting, 
sanitary and economical homes. The 
materials required to construct these 
houses should be products not in de- 

3 mand by the Government for arma- 
ment, ammunition, or ship-building. These conditions 
are met by the use of pressed steel in the gauges used 
for the fabrication of metal lumber and the lighter 
gauges used for metal lath; also in the concrete and 
wall materials which involve the use of Portland cement, 
sand and gravel or broken stone, all of which are among 
the most available and widely distributed materials used 
in the building business. 


Economy is secured by this method as both the ‘‘weight- 
bearing”? metal lumber and the fire-resisting concrete and 
mortar are used in minimum quantity because of the 
scientific design and proportioning of the materials of 
construction. Every ounce of material is in active ser- 
vice, and being used for the purpose for which it is best 
fitted. 


Metal lumber consists of pressed steel studs and joists, 
which make it possible to construct fire-resisting and 
vermin-proof walls, partitions and floors with minimum 
of materials and utmost speed in erection. The applica- 
tion of metal lath, which entirely encase the metal lumber 
frame and joists, serve to stiffen the structure. This 
forms, with the concrete floor fill, plastering and stucco, 
a building which is practically a unit and perfectly rigid, 
and with the decided advantage of being warm in winter 
and cool in summer. 

This type of construction does not furnish merely a 
fire-resistive exterior wall or shell such as would be af- 
forded by masonry walls and wood interior construction, 
but also serves to prevent the partitions from acting as 
flues in conducting fire from one floor to another. 

An extensive practical investigation is being carried 
out by the Bureau of Standards of the United States 
Government on the permanency of the commonly used 
types of stucco of various types of mixture on various 
bases. This test comprises 56 panels, each 10 X 15 feet, 
each panel containing a window or door. Nineteen of 
these panels include the use of metal lath. The four 
metal lath panels comprising Group 3, constructed with 
metal lath attached to studs without sheathing and lath 
back-plastered (identical with the construction illustrated 
on page 12), has practically the full rating given rein- 
forced concrete and brick walls, upon which basis all 
comparisons are made. 

A feature worthy of note in connection with this type 
of construction is the ease with which variation can be 
secured in the exterior details, such as window heads and 
sills, together with ornamental effects, such as bands or 
brackets. 

An inspection of the design of these houses as shown 
in the illustrations on page 12 indicate, first: a struc- 
ture composed of pressed steel sections, scientifically de- 
signed, and based on the use of steel of special analysis 
and heat treatment, to give greatest structural strength, 


permanence and elimination of internal stresses; second, 
the elimination in the walls and partition construction 
of inflammable material. 


The floor construction in this type of house consists 
of pressed steel I-joists, spaced to afford maximum 
economy with proper construction. The wood finish 
floor is readily and rigidly secured to the upper part of 
the joists by means of 2” X 2” wooden nailers or sleepers, 
which are secured to the joists by nails being driven 
between the two channel sections forming the I-joists. 
Between these 2” X 2” nailers and resting on the pro- 
jecting shoulders of the upper flange of the I-joists is a 
1°/,” reinforced concrete fire-resisting slab. This slab, in 
addition to the ceiling plastering (which is also applied 
on metal lath), serves as a protection to the structure. 
The walls and partitions as designed are likewise ade- 
quately protected by the cement stucco on the exterior 
and the plastering on the interior of the building. 


CHANNEL STUDS: 


Material of this nature is furnished with each mem- 
ber identified by marks, and accompanied by complete 
erection diagrams. When it is considered that the build- 
ing consists entirely of “‘one-man material,’’ wherein 
no heavy equipment is required for handling or erection, 
the construction method is particularly attractive at this 
time where the question of the conservation of labor is a 
vital issue. 


Consider Bulk Cement 


There is now a price-difference in favor of bulk 
cement of fifteen cents a barrel. Considering the addi- 
tional saving brought about by the elimination of lost, 
stolen and ruined bags and return freight on bags, it is 
safe to figure on a saving of twenty-five cents a barrel 
when bulk cement is used. This amounts to $57.75 on 
a carload of 231 barrels of cement, or to $250 on a 
thousand-barrel job. It’s something that will stand 
thought. May we send you a pamphlet that will help 
you to see whether or not you can use bulk cement to 
advantage? 


13 


ok, 


ine 


IFFERENT conditions, all or nearly 
all of which have arisen from our 
entrance into the war, have been 
responsible for a slackening of general 
building activities. Naturally some of 
this slackening has been because of 
war’s demands on commonly used 

structural materials, such as steel and wood. Does the 
rural concrete contractor realize, however, that these 
seemingly adverse conditions are really favorable to him? 

If there is one 
best selling argu- 
ment for concrete, 
it is that materials 
that otherwise 
would be waste 
products are put to 
useful constructive 
ends. There is 
nothing consuming 
about concrete con- 
struction. It repre- 
sents the true con- 
servation idea that 
should be and is in 
perfect harmony 
with our present 
national aims. 

Even cement is 
made of what would 
otherwise be a use- 

less material, and 
the bulk of the materials of concrete are sand and 
pebbles or broken stone, which also lie useless in the pit 
until put to the permanent constructive ends which they 
reach in any concrete structure. The materials of con- 

crete being found almost everywhere, building projects 
planned for 
concrete rep- 
resent the use 
of local ma- 
terials; thus 
the already 
overburdened 
railroads are 
not still fur- 
ther taxed 
when their 
every effort is 
needed to 
meet the de- 
mands of war. 

Do all rural 
contractors 
realize in full- 
est measure 
the meaning 
of the above 
statements? If they do, they will find their promotive 
efforts meeting least resistance in putting over contracts 
during the coming year for the many and various buildings 
that will be needed in every rural community. We are 
urged toward conservation in every way; also toward 


Concrete Tile and Stucco Houses at Youngstown 


A Concrete Market Shelter 


14 


greater production; but greater production may avail little 
if staple products of the soil, for instance, are not properly 
housed until they can be shipped to consuming centers. 

Waste of foodstuffs through the depredations of fire 
and rats is enormous. Concrete builds out both fire and 
rats. Every available resource must be conserved. In 
the building line no material so fully fits the conserva- 
tion scheme as concrete. We believe it is going to be a 
year of building in the rural communities, and in the small 
towns. Conditions will fortunately force a greater favor 
for concrete than 
that material has 
ever before known. 

Is the rural con- 
tractor awake to 
these latent oppor- 
tunities? The town 
needs a small pub- 
lie garage. The 
local coal dealer 
needs fireproof bins 
for coal storage to 
in every way safe- 
guard this fuel 
against fire. The 
local grain dealer 
needs concrete 
grain bins to con- 
serve against fire 
and rats. Many a 
farmer needs a con- 
crete machine shed 
because he is going to increase his mechanical equip- 
ment this year to make the lessened farm labor more 
efficient and thus to help save man power ‘needed by the 
Government. 

Many of the small buildings that the rural community re- 
quires should, 
for every rea- 
son which we 
so well know, 
be of concrete. 
Neither labor 
nor materials 
will have to be 
transported 
by rail. De- 
sign for such 
buildings as 
have been 
mentioned 
above can be 
so largely 
standardized 
ieleye © Bh mh AZ 
skilled con- 
tractor can 
deliver build- 
ings fully 100 per cent. efficient. Concrete can be used for 
most of the structures mentioned either in the form of 
block or monolithic construction. Fruit and vegetable 
growing centers need storage caves or warehouses, in 
the construction of which no other material than con- 


crete should enter. The local garage, whether public 
or private, needs safeguarding against fire from without 
and should safeguard adjacent structures by being built 
of fireproof material. Such a building can often be made 
to serve a double purpose. If two stories are planned, 
the upper one can appropriately be fitted up for local 
club or lodge use. Warehouses, power houses, coal bins 
or pockets, all demand concrete construction because the 
business involved needs safeguards which concrete in- 
sures. 


Here and there the argument is advanced that prices of 
materials have risen to such a point that the wisdom of 
building now is to be questioned; but we are in an era of 
high prices and those best fitted to judge by comparison with 
past times, are of the opinion that the prices of two or 
three years ago will never again prevail. As a matter of 
fact, cement, which constitutes only a relatively small 
volume of the total materials required in concrete con- 
struction, has advanced in price less than other building 
materials. 


Farmers are prospering beyond their wildest dreams. 
They are cashing in on big crops, and if reports may be 
relied upon, the acreage planted this year will greatly 
exceed that of last year, and with no greater average 
production per acre should result in still more stupen- 
dous crops, with corresponding returns to invest in farm 
buildings or what not. The average rise in price of 
building materials has amounted to less than 30 per 
cent. The rise in price of farm and many manufactured 
products has been from 100 to 300 per cent. or more. 
With the same quantity of wheat, corn, oats, etc., as be- 
fore the war, the farmer can build two houses, two barns, 
two corncribs, two of any kind of building that he may 
want. Instead of going down, prices are more likely to 
go up. Building is cheaper now than ever. 


Attractive Power House 


The average structure is four walls and a roof. There 
may be one or more floors. Standardization of concrete 
design where nothing ornate is desired is so possible 
that the contractor need be only a builder. Engineers 
have worked out slab and column design for different 
loads and spans. It is merely necessary to adapt estab- 
lished standards to the needs of a particular business 


T5 


to be housed. Such standard tables with respect to 
residences, for instance, and some types of commercial 
buildings have been arranged in handy chart form by 
the Portland Cement Association and can be obtained 
by those interested without charge or other obligation. 


Permanent Garage of a Popular Type 


The Alpha Portland Cement Company has a series of 
Service Sheets giving good ideas for the construction of 
more than a score of rural and other small- or medium- 
sized concrete structures. These sheets are sent free to 
interested architects, contractors or property owners. 

Now more than ever before is the time to get out and 
sell concrete on its many merits, but particularly the 
merit of conservation, which fits in so harmoniously with 
the Nation’s needs to-day. 


Just Two Ways of Solving Food Problem 


Mr. Hoover said, that whether we like it or not, we 
must deal with the food problem of war in one of two 
ways: There is not enough food to go around if we stick 
to the lavish methods of peace times. Rising prices, 
coupled with depreciation of money, due to issues of war 
bonds in every country, which make the purchasing 
power of money shrink, compel us to adjust the food sup- 
ply to the world’s appetite, either by controlling that 
supply in ways that lead to economy and make it suffice, 
or by letting wages rise as prices rise, to keep pace roughly 
with fluctuations. Even an amateur economist can see 
at a glance that food control is better than wage in- 
crease, because wage increase is a crude force operating 
slowly, unevenly and with great injustice and suffering 
to millions of workers. The wages of many workers 
do not rise—the professional men, clerical workers, pub- 
lic employees, and so forth. Russia tried the experi- 
ment of letting wages adjust themselves to the dimin- 
ishing food supply, and it did not work. 


Concrete Paving on Steep Grades 


Concrete paving has often proved its adaptability to 
steep grades. So far as is known, the steepest grade 
upon which concrete has been used is in Los Angeles. 
The Portland Cement Association, 111 West Washington 
Street, Chicago, has recently distributed a photographic 
reproduction of Baxter Street, Los Angeles, showing the 
concrete pavement mentioned, where grades range from 
tr to 29 per cent., and yet some people say concrete is 
not suited to steep grades. 


F ALPHA 


AlOSs 


By the Way 


Prosperity and the War 


HERE’S food for thought in an edi- 
torial contained in a recent issue of Jn- 
dustrial Canada, published at Toronto. 
It might be well if those in the United 
States who have been haunted by 
vague fears of industrial calamities 
and economic disasters folowing our 
entrance into the World War could 
read this editorial and take heart. It says: 

‘Whether we like to admit it or not, the war has made 
pretty nearly everybody in Canada prosperous. Those who 
aren’t prosperous have themselves largely to blame for 
it. Looking about us, we see more genuine prosperity 
scattered around than ever before in the history of the 
country. People are better dressed; they have more 
comforts in their homes; they eat nicer things; and most 
of them enjoy themselves more than they ever did. 

“Canada has borne the strain of war for more than 
three years. It has experienced terrible losses in men, 
and the flower of its youth is in the army. It has borne 
greater economic burdens than the United States may 
be called upon to bear. . Canada’s industries were at first 
paralyzed by the war. Reality values fell. Building 
was at low ebb. Canada has got its second wind. It 
knows just what the war is costing and what it will 
probably cost in lives and treasure. It has shouldered 
its burden, and now if not experiencing normal condi- 
tions, it at least has resumed to a great extent the inter- 
rupted course of its economic life. It is building fac- 
tories, stores, dwellings. It has learned that the best 
and safest way to conduct the economic affairs of the 
country is to naturally develop the resources of the land, 
to construct needed improvements—to lead, in short, so 
far as compatible with war conditions, a normal existence. 

‘“How could it serve the cause of the Allies if half the 
workers in Canada were hunting for jobs, and there were 
bread lines in the large cities?” 


A Boom in Farm Building 


‘‘War Profits’? Going into Rural Improvements 
the Country Over 


If the future fulfills the promises of the present, the 
rural districts of this country will be transformed in ap- 
pearance within the next year or two. That transforma- 
tion will come about through the building of bigger and 
better farm homes, bigger and better barns, and a tre- 
mendous increase in the numbers of bins, cribs, imple- 
ment sheds, garages, hog houses, poultry houses and all 
the various other forms of outbuildings necessary to 
the business of modern farming. 

The farmer, on the top wave of prosperity, is going to 
put his ‘“‘war profits” into improvements on ‘‘the place,” 
and those improvements will include whatever comforts 
and conveniences he may have lacked in leaner years. 

Those who make a business of watching the trend of 
industrial activity say that while unprecedented pros- 
perity is the principal reason for the widespread activity 
in rural building, that is not the only reason. They say 
the American farmer—and his wife and children as well— 
is just awakening to the realization that he need not deny 


himself the comforts and luxuries of city homes just be- 
cause he lives on the farm, and now that he has the money 
coming in, he is going to enjoy those advantages. 

Furthermore, the farmer is finding out that his buying 
power, or the buying power of the commodities he pro- 
duces on the farm, is, in the purchase of many desirable 
things, just about twice what it was a few years ago. 
He finds that especially true when he goes to buy building 
materials, and that is why he is preparing all over the 
country to equip his farm with modern structures, in- 
cluding the farm house. 

A load of corn or wheat, or a bale of cotton, or a fat. 
steer or hog will buy twice as much building material 
as 1t would even four years ago, which naturally suggests 
that this is a fine time to trade farm products for building 
material. Since the European war began the price of 
lumber has advanced only about 28 per cent., the statisti- 
cians say, while the prices of 96 other important com- 
modities, including farm products, have made an average 
advance of 127 per cent. Why lumber prices have not 
soared along with the prices of most everything else is 
something of a mystery, but the facts remain they have 
not. And that is why the farmer is getting out his ham- 
mer and saw preparatory to “fixing up,” before building 
material prices take to scooting upward—A merican 
Builder. 


It is significant to note the changes on our modern 
farms. 

The decay and crumbling disintegration of the wooden 
structure are disappearing. Silos, barns, outhouses, 
roads, walks, homes, every unit of the farm glistens 
white in the sunshine: Cement is well-nigh imperish- 
able. It endures. 

The production of both concrete and cement, there- 
fore, has grown to be one of the Nation’s most vital in- 
dustries. We build for Generations!—Printer’s Ink. 


If cement-dealers will send a selected lst of farmers’ 
names and addresses to Portland Cement Association, 111 
W. Washington St., Chicago, valuable bulletins encour- 
aging concrete improvements will be mailed free of charge. 


How Much Does Your Team Pull? 


A popularized report of tractive resistance on various 
road surfaces, made for the Good Roads Bureau of the 
California State Automobile Association by Professor 
J. B. Davidson, Division of Agricultural Engineering 
of the University of California, which is summarized as 
follows: 


PULL IN POUNDS PER TON. 


Over‘a level, tmnsimiaced concreteroady.. 5. . ssa2.. se Haple 

Concrete base, */s-inch skin top asphaltic oil and screenings 49 ¥ 
ae 

Water-bound macadam, level, good condition........... 64.3 

Concrete base, 1!/2-inch Topeka top, level, good condition . 86.5 

Gravel’ road, wood condition, levelammon) seen ee ap a 

net 

Bartheroad stiney dust, Level ence memes tere rere. o2e 

99.3 

Earth road, stiff mud on top, firm underneath, level...... 218.0 

Loose gravel, not packed down, new road, level......... 263.0 


b 
li 


av 
ij 
a 

y 


Will it stand wear and tear ? 

Will it resist fire, water and wind ? 

Will it save on repair, paint and insur- 
ance expense ? 

Can it be built of easily-obtained ma- 
terials ? 

At the end of a 10- or 20-year period will 
it rank high as a building investment ? 

These are questions that the judicious 
property-owner asks himself in these days 
of conservation and careful planning. 

CONCRETE answers every question with 
a big YES. 


Build with good sand, stone and ALPHA 
Portland Cement, and the result will be a 
structure almost as enduring as if it were 
hewn out of solid rock. 


Test ALPHA Cement if you prefer, but 
you don’t have to, for it is tested hourly by 
chemists at every ALPHA plant, and goes 
out in bags stamped “Guaranteed” to meet 
standard specifications invariably. 


ALPHA CEMENT—HOW TO USE IT 
(96 pages illustrated) free for the asking. If 
any of the following subjects interest you, 
special suggestions will be sent: 


Walkway Storage Cellar Septic Tank Gate Posts 
Driveway Small Dam Dipping Vat Walls 
Small Bridge Greenhouse Tanks Sills 
Culvert Steps Tennis Court Lintels 
Foundation Porch Floors Concrete Roof Garages 


Barn Cellar Floor 
Gutter and Curb Ice House 


be Ble 


Falls! 


Piers for Small Boats Concrete Roads 


Fence Posts 


Alpha Portland Cement Co. 


General Offices: EASTON, PA. 


BRANCH OFFICES: 


New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, 


Baltimore, Savannah 


The flour 


Guaranieed 
Portland 


QUARRY 

MILL 

OFFICE 

HOTEL 

BALL GROUND 

BUNK HOUSE 

ALPHA SUPPLY CO | 

STATION 

CLUB HOUSE 
JO SUPERINTENDENTS HOME 
11 SUMMER HOUSE 
12 PRESENT SCHOOL 
13 NEW SCHOOL | 
14 PROTESTANT CHURCH, 
15 R.C. CHURCH 
16 BOAT HOUSE 

) 17 CHEAT RIVERL 


1 

2 
) 
4 
5 
G6 
7 
re) 
2) 


